NASA Science Animation Fellowship

Description

USRA is an independent, nonprofit research corporation where the combined efforts of in-house talent and university-based expertise merge to advance space science and technology. USRA works across disciplines including biomedicine, planetary science, astrophysics, and engineering and integrates those competencies into applications ranging from fundamental research to facility management and operations. USRA engages the creativity and authoritative expertise of the research community to develop and deliver sophisticated, forward-looking solutions to Federal agencies and other customers - on schedule and within budget.

The Science Animation Fellowship is a yearlong program designed for animators and CGI artists who wish to expand their horizons and create animations and illustrations for some of NASA’s most exciting science missions. The program is designed for recent graduates and graduate students interested in exploring the intersection between animation, computer graphics, media, and science. You will be part of an outstanding team of animators, data visualizers, science writers, producers, and social media professionals. This is an excellent opportunity to improve your skills as you work with our team to translate complex ideas into compelling visuals that move, inspire and educate.

Fellows will be assigned a mentor from our animation team and will have the opportunity to work on a large variety of projects during the course of the year: solar storms, the structure and evolution of the universe, gamma ray bursts, rotating black holes, technologies and sensors behind a new generation of Earth observing satellites, alien atmospheres, hurricane heat engines, arctic ozone hole rebound, mystery of missing Martian atmosphere, magnificent magnetic fields, Lunar crater explosion, glacier races, and never before seen anatomy of a raindrop.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Fellows are expected to make substantive contributions by creating animation and motion graphics content for use by a wide range of audiences - newsmedia, bloggers, educators, park rangers, students, museums, science centers, and the general public
• You will assist senior animators by creating models, rigging characters, setting up scenes/lighting, rendering, compositing, and archiving
• You will have a chance to develop your your own projects from initial meetings with scientists to development of sketches and storyboards, model and scene development, to final renders